A day after David Villalobos jumped from the Wild Asia Monorail at the Bronx Zoo, I wanted to see for myself just how close I could get to communing with Bachuta, the majestic male tiger who mauled him.

Lots of little kids, even babies, were packing onto the sleek, forest-green carriages that carry you over a gently rolling landscape of rocks, grasses and trees meant to simulate Asian habitats.

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I tried to get onto a rear car, as Villalobos had, but had to settle for one three cars from the front.

As we rolled slowly along, I noticed there was a steel handrail in front of me at waist level when I stood, but no physical barrier would prevent me from launching myself out of the car and into the animals' domain.

We passed some Indian peacocks and then some Mongolian horses, and I was surprised at how close they were.

"As we round this corner, please remain seated as we are going to be on the lookout for a tiger!" guide Alberto shouted.

My heart leapt a little. "As soon as we enter, he is straight down below!" Alberto shouted. "Look straight down!"

Bachuta was not on display Saturday.

New York Daily News reporter Kerry Wills rides the Bronx Zoo Wild Asia Monorail as it passes by a tiger's den on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012, in Bronx, NY. David Villalobos, 25, of Mahopac, N.Y., jumped from the monorail yesterday in a failed suicide attempt and was mauled by Bachuta, a 400-pound, 11-year-old male Amur tiger. (James Keivom/New York Daily News) (James Keivom/New York Daily News)

But another similar tiger was, lounging and looking quite relaxed and proud of himself. The monorail passes directly over a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire that is not more than 6 feet tall.

There was a hush, and then a child shouting, "I see it! I see it!"

His head was as wide as a car seat. His orange and white fur is striped and mottled with brown and black, his huge, muscular frame slack and chill, like me on my couch. I was thrillingly close.

But seriously, he was terrifying.

Cameras clicked and people stood excitedly, but zoo staff politely urged all to sit. Could someone have jumped in today? Certainly. Is there any doubt that the tiger could have reached the jumper within seconds? None at all.

Like most everyone else, I understand Villalobos' reverence for the Amur tiger, but I wonder what he could have been expecting, other than death, from so close an encounter with this animal.